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Published: September 28th 2012
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Alcatraz Island
seen from Fisherman's Wharf Today was another fun day touring in California. We started in Santa Cruz at the Dream Inn. It is a really nice hotel and we really appreciate Janel and Kelly for arranging it for us. But we had said our Goodbyes last night so we hopped in the car, had breakfast on the road, and headed north this morning.
Coming south we had traveled the highways and interstates, which was efficient but not too exciting. This morning we followed Janel’s advice and went north on US-1, all the way to Half Moon Bay. It is mostly a 2-lane highway running along the coast. The scenery was more picturesque but unfortunately it was partly foggy so we could not see it as well as might have been later in the day. We did take a few minutes for a detour through Pescadero (as recommended by Rebecca and Brendan) and it was a cute coastal forming community.
We got to San Francisco about 10:30 and headed to The Embarcadero at Fisherman’s Wharf. We were planning to take a Greyline Tour of the highlights of San Francisco, but it took us a couple of trips driving up and
Golden Gate Bridge
Best view we had today down the street to find the right place. But all worked out in the end and we got parked and on the Noon bus about 11:30. Janet was one of the first ones up the steps so we got front row seats in the open-topped double-decker bus. So that was great!
Our driver took us all over town with lots of information. The only stop was at the Golden Gate Bridge where we had 20 minutes to explore. Apparently it is quite common to be shrouded in fog, and sadly today was a good example of that. But we got to visit the gift shop and saw a couple of displays, so it was interesting anyway. Tomorrow the ship will have to sail under the bridge, so maybe then it will be clear (not likely but we can hope). But elsewhere in San Francisco it was sunny and warm, and we had a very enjoyable tour.
After the tour we got a small late lunch and headed back to our hotel in Hayward. This evening we had dinner plans with Tim Stokes (our nephew) and his family, so we wanted to have a chance
to clean up a little beforehand and get about an hour’s rest. After riding around in the open-air bus we are a little wind-blown and we did get a little sun this afternoon too.
Tim had e-mailed directions and they were very helpful in finding his house. In retrospect, we thought we had chosen lodging that was partway between our two families, but actually we chose somewhere that incurred more driving because it wasn’t really near either one. Oh well, next time we will know better.
Anyway, we had a very good visit with Tim, Heidi, and Kieran. We had a little trouble finding their actual house, but were only a few minutes late after following Tim’s instruction. Heidi had cooked a delicious leg of lamb and rice. They receive a delivery of fresh vegetables and she made a yummy salad with fresh lettuce, walnuts, and beets. For desert she had baked a Bundt Cake.
We had a real nice visit and swapped a lot of stories about what we’ve both been doing. They are coming back to visit in St Louis in October, but unfortunately we will be away at
the same time. Kieran played a couple of tunes for us on his violin which we all enjoyed. David tried to record one of the songs, which Grandma Helen will enjoy after we get back to St Louis.
All-in-all we had another very enjoyable day, capping off our excursions in California. Hopefully tomorrow we will have time to go back and publish some pictures for both days here in California. As for now - good night.
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